Let’s face it, a Christmas album is a strange thing; you’ll probably play it for a few weeks and then it’ll collect dust for the rest of the year, it somehow feels wrong to play a Yule-themed album at the height of summer. However, The Burrito Brothers have bucked the trend and have produced a record in Christmas that’s full of festive fun and frolics that’ll sparkle and shine all year round, not just in the deep midwinter.

Here in Western Europe it’s easy to forget that other, sunnier parts of the globe also celebrate Christmas, while our beards freeze and toes succumb to frostbite other, luckier, souls are basking in bright sunlight. We’re all informed by our surroundings and the Burrito’s sunkissed climes of their native Nashville can’t help but shape this record. That influence becomes immediately apparent on opening track, the Holiday/White composed ‘Christmas Day’. Originally appearing on Glen Campbell’s 1969 festive record, the Burrito’s put their own stamp upon it (as all covers should be handled) whilst retaining the shape of the original. It’s full of the band’s trademark slide guitar and lush harmonies, yet it feels as if the spirit of Glen Campbell is in the background and gently guiding the band.

Humour is an important part of The Burrito Brothers’ genetic make up, so how could they not cover Buck Owens’ ‘Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy’? It’s a jaunty little number that’ll have the adults exchanging knowing looks when played at a Christmas party, and of all the songs on this record, this is the one cut which most harks back their roots in The Flying Burrito Brothers. It’s the ebb and flow of this record that makes it move so well, and the following ‘Christmas Moon’ drops a gear to deliver an expansive song that shines like a star in a bruise coloured sky that’s cooling golden sand beneath.

Christmas comprises new (and not so) written tracks alongside choice covers, and it is to the band’s credit that their self-penned ‘Santa’ and ‘Spirit Of The Season’ (with its nice Doors style jazzy breakdown) sits next to The Who’s ‘Christmas’ quite effortlessly. Retaining the emotional quality of Pete Townsend’s original whilst having a little fun by throwing in a few bars of ‘Pinball Wizard’ and ‘See Me, Feel Me’ perfectly encapsulates the Burrito’s modus operandi. As does their cover of The Beatles’ ‘Christmastime (Is Here Again)’, a track originally released on the Fab Four’s fifth fan club record but has now passed into folklore, and is given a suitably psychedelic reading before ‘Happy New Year’ brings us back down with a gentle bump.

By their very design, Christmas-themed albums can be very one-dimensional, tightly-focused affairs, yet The Burrito Brothers have produced a multifaceted record that’ll sound good all year round, and not just at Christmas.

• Christmas is released via The Store For Music on 1st December 2023.

Track List:

1. Christmas Day
2. Bethlehem Bell
3. Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy
4. Christmas Moon
5. Christmas Star
6. The Feast Of Stephen
7. Santa
8. Christmas
9. Merry Christmas
10. Christmastime (Is Here Again)
11. Happy New Year